


Impending Ordeal

by devilinthedetails



Category: PIERCE Tamora - Works, Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Ambition, Desire, Duty, Emotional Manipulation, Gen, Loyalty, Ordeal of Knighthood, Physical Abuse, Psychological Manipulation, Unhealthy Dynamics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-13
Updated: 2018-10-13
Packaged: 2019-08-01 07:52:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16280579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/devilinthedetails/pseuds/devilinthedetails
Summary: With Alex's Ordeal impending, Roger forces him to reveal his ambitions and speak his desires.





	Impending Ordeal

Impending Ordeal 

“What”—Duke Roger’s hand rested on Alex’s shoulder, ready to tighten like a constricting snake in the jungles of the Copper Isles if Alex answered his question incorrectly on this final night before Alex’s Ordeal—“do you want most, young Alexander?” 

“To serve the realm, Your Grace.” Alex tried to sound stiff and dutiful, not young as Duke Roger had referred to him. 

“Don’t lie to me because you think that’s what I want to hear.” Duke Roger’s fingers clenched around Alex’s shoulder, cutting off Alex’s blood flow until numbness began to replace the ache from his knightmaster’s tautening grip. “Tell me the truth. That’s what I always want to hear from you, squire.” 

“I’m your squire.” Alex blinked back the pain of a bruise he could already feel forming purple as a plum on his shoulder as he gazed earnestly up at the knightmaster who towered over him, looming as a castle rampart manned by archers. “I desire only to serve you all my days.” 

“Another lie.” Duke Roger shook Alex’s shoulder so fiercely Alex feared it would be dislocated, crippling him before his Ordeal. “This one even feebler than the last. You’re much too ambitious to only wish to serve me all your days.” 

“I want to be the best swordsman, sir.” Alex ducked his head and hoped that his admission of the overreaching scope of his ambition would satisfy his knightmaster enough to release him. “I want to follow in Duke Gareth’s footsteps as King’s Champion.” 

“You’ll be the best swordsman one day soon, Alex.” Duke Roger relinquished his stranglehold on Alex’s shoulder only to stroke it in a manner that made Alex’s spine shudder as if spiders crawled along it. “That’s beyond question. What isn’t beyond question is whether you’ll be the King’s Champion.” 

That last sentence was a knife in the beating heart of Alex’s ambition, and, as if he sensed the crushing power of his words, Duke Roger added softly, “If I were king, of course, you’d be my Champion as a reward for your faithful service to me. Continue to serve me faithfully when you’re no longer my squire, and you might find yourself King’s Champion yet.” 

“I’ll always be faithful to you.” Alex was grateful for the excuse of an opportunity to bow since it gave him the chance to slip out of Duke Roger’s clutches though he suspected that this escape was more illusion than reality since in reality he had the foreboding feeling that he would never be free of the duke’s grasp. “You always give me the chance to be the best, and I won’t disappoint you.” 

“Good. See that you don’t.” Duke Roger’s nod conveyed as much command as it did approval. “A man hates to bother to train a squire who only proves a disloyal disappointment to him. Long after he is knighted, a former squire owes a duty to his knightmaster for instructing him, you know.” 

“I know.” Alex bowed again for good measure. “That’s why I want to serve you all my days by being the best swordsman in the realm. I’ll be the best for you and for me, Your Grace.” 

“Your loyalty”—Duke Roger’s hand drifted from Alex’s shoulder to hover over his head like a halo of benediction—“is touching. I’ll remember it when you enter your Ordeal tomorrow.” 

Alex, who would have preferred to be reminded of anything but his Ordeal at that moment, couldn’t answer as images of the horrors the Chamber could inflict on him in all too short a time dried his tongue and froze his lips, reducing him to a silence as complete as the one he would be expected to maintain throughout his Ordeal. Perhaps, Alex thought, Duke Roger’s questioning had only been a prelude and preparation for his Ordeal. Duke Roger, after all, always knew how to draw the best from Alex, pulling more from him than he could ever have imagined that he had to give.


End file.
